Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
You might think you can sneak into my office, past the guard dog whose old bones are loathe to move unless food is in the offing, whose old ears can no longer hear footsteps. But that’s when you fall into my trap! For waiting around the corner in my office is young little Trixie, who will eagerly snuggle up into your lap and … I think my office defenses need a re-think.
You might not recognize him since he’s not sitting in a box, but this is our cat Boo.
I’m pleased to announce that we’ve begun production on a new TV series called Detective Samwise, a show in the long tradition of slightly silly murder mysteries. Detective Samwise is called in to investigate a string of cat burglaries, in which it turns out actual cats are being stolen. By coincidence our hero detective is himself a cat, so he goes undercover to catch the thief red-handed but finds more than he bargained for when he discovers a murder most foul! We are having some issues with the actress playing our murder victim, however, as while she’s quite good at laying still, she keeps swiveling her ears around so she can hear if craft services has started laying out snacks.
I love it when Ellie sleeps on her side in a running position, sometimes her legs churn and she makes “whoop whoop whoop” noises as though she’s running in her dreams. She does it more now, either from old age or the medicines she takes. I used to think that sleep separated us but it occurred to me recently that perhaps instead we’re continuing on together in her dreams, running without old age to slow her down, and the treats that come from my pockets are pizzas and pot roasts.
I took this picture last summer of Ellie resting on the hardwood outside on our bedroom. We were having a heat wave and have a portable air conditioner in the bedroom and would make her stay in there during the savagely hot days, especially as she’s gotten older she pants heavily on hot or even warm days. But as you can see she doesn’t like being cooped up in there, more than anything she wants to be with her people and be at the door to greet me when I come home. Generally the weather here doesn’t get too hot but the last couple of summers have been hot and we hit 91 yesterday on May 22nd. May 22nd!
I have an appointment in a couple of weeks for an estimate on getting central air installed, which if feasible will make both of us quite happy during those days we need it. I love the smell of fresh air, and the cats like the open windows, but there are days where AC would be nice.
As the weather has gotten colder, Trixie has discovered the joys of this spot beneath the big picture window. Underneath the wooden grate is a heating vent, blowing warm air onto your belly as you sleep. When we moved to this house in 2002, our two cats were Templeton and Scout. Scout (the black-and-white cat) was the first to discover the vent, but Templeton (the gray tuxedo cat) soon discovered Scout’s secret and began sleeping here as well.
I’ve photographed most of the cats on this vent over the years, although it didn’t get as much use once we bought them heated beds. For some reason they haven’t used the beds as much since Scout died a few years ago (she adored hers and insisted it be kept beside me in my office), although they do sleep in Ellie’s beds quite frequently.
I was photographing our cats Boo and Trixie playing together when I noticed Ellie patiently waiting in the doorway behind me. She looks so sad when her mouth is closed, so I got some treats hoping I could convince her to give me a big smile. However Ellie is serious about food and instead of a smile I got an intense stare.
She got her treat.
A picture from a couple of years ago of our cat Emma with eyes wide open, keeping an eye on young Boo who we had adopted three weeks prior. We were just starting to give him limited time into the house at large and Emma was not happy about it, following him around wherever he went. In a year and a half disease would steal Emma from us and we found ourselves introducing another young cat, Trixie, but this time it was Boo (and Sam) who were not happy about the new arrival and we were in for another slow introduction.
I had just gotten my Canon M, their little mirrorless camera, when we got Boo and was taking most of my pet pictures (then and now) with it. While it was a very flawed camera, I got it on a fire sale so there was little financial risk and I treated it as an experiment to see if I would like mirrorless cameras (I did) and with the hope that Canon would get more serious about mirrorless (they didn’t). I loved how I didn’t have to hold the camera to my eye, which not only let me get a lot of shots of the pets I wouldn’t have otherwise, but Emma was also a lot more tolerant of being photographed since she could still see my face.
I’ve been thinking for a while now about moving to a mirrorless system that would better fit my needs, or possibly going to a larger full-frame sensor, and this morning two pretty groundbreaking cameras got announced that would allow me to do both with one camera, and best of all each offers built-in image stabilization. I haven’t had much time to read up on them and, unlike my little M, either would require a massive investment in a camera I haven’t made since my first digital camera.
Right before I left for work Leica announced the Q, a gorgeous little fixed lens camera. I’ve never shot with anything as wide as its 28mm lens, nor anything as fast as it’s f/1.7 lens, but at first glance a lot of thought went into its design. I’ve always wanted to own a Leica but never have, much like in cars I’ve always wanted a Volvo, Mazda, or Alfa Romeo. This one has my interest, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I’d use it enough to justify its price tag.
While I was at work Sony announced their latest interchangeable lens full-frame camera, the A7R II. While it had been rumored for a while, they upgraded more from the original A7R than I was expecting (a camera that intrigued me but had too many foibles to seriously tempt me). This one seems to have fixed many of my issues with the previous model, and rather curiously, there are reports that Sony was demonstrating that with an adapter you could attach Canon lenses and still get autofocus. Not sure how well it would work, but if I could use my existing lenses with it …
I love Ellie’s gray eyebrows, they add so much expression to her face. I sometimes wonder if the price she pays for being such an amazing dog is that she gets a gray hair for each moment of joy she brings into our lives.
Boolie 